Photoshop and general purpose i5-760 or i5-661?

[snowbound]

Looking at building a computer for photoshop and general use. Thinking of using an Asus P7H57D-V EVO and either an i5-661 or i5-760. The 661 will allow using the onboard video on this motherboard while the 760 will need a standalone video card. The 661 is a dual core w HT while the 760 is a quad w no hyperthreading.

My question is does it make any sense going with the i5-760 to get the 4 real cores rather than the dual core w HT for photoshop? I may get a stand alone video card down the road if I get the 661 but that I can get latter.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[Sp12]

750 for sure. Hyperthreading does not make up for cores.

Though really you could get an AMD X6 with an integrated motherboard GPU for a bit less.

 

[mfenn]

I would say to get the 760. Due to the 760's huger turbo modes (+666Mhz 1 core active vs. +266MHz 1 core active), they are very close in single-threaded performance. The 760 is obviously much faster for multi-threaded applications because it's a quad.

I would also just forget about the P7H57D-V EVO because $200 for an H57 mobo just seems outrageous. You can get an i5 760 + GA-P55A-UD3 + 5670 for less (after promo and rebate) than the i5 661 + P7H57D-V EVO. The 760 setup would be overall faster in terms of CPU and GPU.

 

[snowbound]

I am up in Winnipeg Canada and Newegg.ca is horrible for shipping. Normal shipping from their NJ warehouse takes 2 weeks! I can get the Asus motherboard for $176 before $30 rebate. Also Gigabyte has had a problem with the UD3 and the board emitting a single random beep. I had a very frustrating time with Gigabyte support back in Jan with this board and do not want to go there again.

 

[Tsavo]

Core i5 661 is a poor value as a CPU.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/117?vs=109

You can push a nominal overclock on the 750 (3.2 GHz+ @ normal volts) and get even more steam out of it.

Since you aren't concerned about gaming, grab any $25 PCI-E card and you'll be ahead of the game.

 

[mfenn]

I am up in Winnipeg Canada and Newegg.ca is horrible for shipping. Normal shipping from their NJ warehouse takes 2 weeks! I can get the Asus motherboard for $176 before $30 rebate. Also Gigabyte has had a problem with the UD3 and the board emitting a single random beep. I had a very frustrating time with Gigabyte support back in Jan with this board and do not want to go there again.

That's actually an Intel CPU bug. Just turn off the CPU warning beep in the BIOS and that'll fix it.

Nonetheless, you're still better off with a 760 + cheaper P55 board. There are plenty of options by MSI and ASUS around the $100-$120 mark.

 

[wpcoe]

That's actually an Intel CPU bug. Just turn off the CPU warning beep in the BIOS and that'll fix it.

FWIW, Gigabyte finally enabled the workaround for that bug with the latest BIOS for my P55A-UD3P board.

 

[Auric]

The 661 is retarded anyway since it merely has the GPU set at 900 MHz rather than 733 and for that deletes hardware virtualization and accelerated AES. In which case, may as well get the fully featured 660 for the same cost and especially with a Gigabyte mainboard, adjust the GPU to whatever you like.

If you wanted to spend the same to give up some features for potentially higher raw performance then better to opt for the unlocked 655K.

As for the quad models, I would be more inclined to just wait for Sandy Bridge. The 750 was much more compelling three quarters ago @ $150 rather than $200. But even then, I opted for the 650 at $150 albeit with different needs than the OP. At least for around the same $200 now, the 760 offers a bit more oomph than the 750.